By David Benjamin
LAS VEGAS — Negotiating the CES show floor, bumping along among throngs of convention-goers, and weaving between display booths large and small is no walk in the park. But it rewards the visitor with sights, sounds, and the occasional human encounter that can be mystifying, gratifying, amusing. For a photographer more interested in startling images than in the minutiae of technology, this hectic stroll can be fun. Here’s a collection of shots derived from an hour or so among several exhibition halls at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
Quantum computing comes to CES
IBM chose CES to unveil IBM Q System One. IBM calls its Q System One “the world’s first integrated universal approximate quantum computing system.”
But here’s the thing: How do you explain quantum computing to the CES crowd? After all, the system is designed for scientific and commercial use.
The Big Blue did its best to describe quantum computing in the context of future applications. The potential use cases listed by IBM include: “finding new ways to model financial data and isolating key global risk factors to make better investments, or finding the optimal path across global systems for ultra-efficient logistics and optimizing fleet operations for deliveries.”
Le Mans comes to CES
Formula 1, the organization that sponsors auto races all over the world, has developed its own e-sports, including video games and a sports league. This allowed eager visitors at CES to drive, virtually, a Formula 1 car on a track that simulates a real race.
LG’s dazzling OLED
One of the most dazzling exhibits at CES, annually, is LG’s vast undulating OLED ceiling, some 50 yards from end to end, displaying vivid moving images of sea and land in brilliant color and hypnotic variety. To get an idea of the scale of this display, look for people in the lower left.
Sights and more sights
The point of every demonstration on the show floor is to pull people in and capture their undivided attention. The eloquent presenter at an LG LinQ smart-kitchen demo got this crowd to freeze in place and watch the whole act.
Flying autonomous taxi, anyone?
You kinda wish that Uber would nail down the robotaxi first, a kind that drives on streets, before jumping on a full-scale aircraft concept.
Nonetheless, a humongous flying drone got everyone’s attention at CES 2020.
Hyundai Motor Co. and Uber announced a joint partnership to develop Uber air taxis for a future aerial ride-share network. Hyundai became the first automotive company to join the Uber Elevate initiative.
What’s Hyundai’s contribution? The company claims that it is bringing an “automotive-scale manufacturing capability” and its expertise in “mass-producing electric vehicles.” Yeah, right. Let us know when the volume production will become the gating factor for flying cabs.
The ultimate in ultra-thin
Royole, a maker of ultra-thin display panels, turned its products into virtual leaves on a 25-foot artificial tree.
Nominee: dumbest corporate slogan
What? Was life that stupid up ’til now?
Panasonic: swimmers & stuffed animals?
Actually, Panasonic, whose history at CES goes back decades, is not sponsoring swimming races and making cute stuffed creatures. This was just a dramatic juxtaposition. The historic Japanese electronics company this year is featuring OLED displays, wireless headphones, and a collaboration with partner companies on Filmmaker Mode TV.
You don’t get the hunk
“Redefining Home” has been a mission for dozens of companies at CES for more than 20 years. Homex is one of the latest entrants, with what it calls an integrated home experience platform that understands each individual’s personal needs. But the tall, handsome guy explaining the technology doesn’t come with the package.
This is not a giant toaster
Progress has been made in the development of driverless auto technology, as indicated by this shuttle vehicle displayed by Bosch. But many of the advanced prototypes for autonomous people-moving still look eerily like upscale toasters on wheels. Bagels, anyone?
Konka’s 8K micro LED
According to “booth babe” Sarah Trujillo, Konka is the only company, other than Samsung, with the capabilities for the wall-size mural it was displaying at CES. Sarah said this is the “commercial” version and did not say when you might be able to adorn your rumpus room with this sort of digital scenery.
China at CES in one photo
From a certain angle on the CES show floor, two Chinese powerhouses, Changdong and Huawei, are joined at the ceiling joists.
Who was that masked Huawei guy?
Convention-goers David Parker (left) and Tom Dahlstrom learn the intricacies of the latest Huawei smartphone from an amiable aide known only as Matthew V. For reasons that Matthew and other Huawei elves were not allowed to discuss — perhaps to protect civilians in a trade war — none of Huawei’s employees working in its booth at CES were identified by their full names.
Those people aren’t people
The display for Neon, a company based in Campbell, California, featured lively film footage of animated folks who aren’t actually folks. The images are 2D robots whose purpose, according to neuroscientist Angie Chiang (in the foreground — she’s real!), is to accustom us to artificial people who seem, said Angie, “as real as possible.”
A place in the sun
Las Vegas, located in the desert, has precious little green space. But there is a patch of it in front of the Las Vegas Convention Center, just large enough for a few weary visitors to take a break from the CES hurly-burly.
Elon Musk goes underground
One thing that was not on the show floor, but everyone talked about at CES 2020, is a new people mover currently in development by Elon Musk’s Boring Co.
The Boring Co. is constructing an underground people-mover system beneath the convention center. The loop is designed to connect the current LVCC with a new convention building under construction across the street. Supposedly, it will turn an estimated 15-minute walk into a 1-minute ride.
CES attendees next year will be traveling in one of three Tesla model vehicles that can carry up to 16 people each. The cars are slated to operate autonomously in the tunnel. Las Vegas Convention and, reportedly, Visitors Authority CEO Steve Hill said this week that the loop is on track to open for CES 2021.